Alcatraz
After watching an entire weekend of football, I calculated I saw the ad for JJ Abrams new show Alcatraz, about 250 times. Saturation worked. I watched what was promised to be a two hour special. It turned out to actually be two one hour episodes back to back. Here is the thing with a JJ Abrams show. You have to watch from the very first second of the very first episode and you have to pay attention the entire hour every week or you are screwed. As many of you know, I enjoy a beverage or two when I come home from work. Therefore, paying attention to anything for an hour, let alone two, let alone a JJ Abrams show is very hard. But, I did it. This show better not get canceled. Anytime I devote myself to a show like that, I expect results.
I thought the first hour was great and the second was kind of so so. The only shocking thing in the second episode was the final 30 seconds. Did not see that one coming. I saw all the rest of the "secrets" coming from a mile away. Oh, except for the grandfather being a prisoner or killing the partner. I knew the guy at the beginning was an Alcatraz guy, just did not know about the grandfather part. When Hurley (Just keeps it easier. They should have just called him that and at the end of the series he could have said he was getting on a plane for a vacation) kind of hemmed and hawed about her grandfather when she asked while at the bar, I knew something was up, but admit I did not get that one.
I was surprised at how easily the feds were sharing information and, unlike Lost, people were actually asking questions, the problem was no one was getting answers. They have to change things up a little bit, because I don't want to sit through 302 episodes of them catching one guy after another. It will just be Law & Order with a sci fi twist to it. Oh, and what are they going to do about the guards? Are they still guarding the prisoners in purgatory?
LOL @ your Hurley bit. Please please please have him get on a plane at the end...!
ReplyDeleteI watched because I'm a fan of JJ Abrams work. I liked it, but I'm afraid it's going to end up being Lost. Hope I'm wrong.
Four, seven. One, two, three, four.
You are right about sitting still from the first moment, I was making a quick meal last night and asked my guy to keep watching and fill me in....the second I left the room he had the remote in hand and was watching those pawn shop guys...I will have to watch the replay...they will have one, they must have one.
ReplyDeleteSo why did Sam Neill age..?
Alias was a lot easier to follow than Lost IMO but I could never get into Fringe. I love JJ Abrams but I kinda get the feeling his name is starting to get added to a lot of shows and I'm wondering if this is actually his show that he is running or if he will just be slightly involved.
ReplyDeleteLove Alias and Lost so watched Alcatraz last night - so far so good.
ReplyDeleteThis is on my PVR and I'm excited to watch it. Huge LOST fan here.
ReplyDeleteFringe was really good for the first couple of seasons but they're starting to lose me at this point. I'll keep trying though *L*.
Hurley!!! So happy just to see him.
ReplyDelete"You have to watch from the very first second of the very first episode and you have to pay attention the entire hour every week or you are screwed." --- SERIOUSLY. NO JOKE!
Nope; loved Alias, but thought it ended badly (Rambaldi explanation was painful) and hoped Abrams would grow and learn. Ha! His shit got less comprehensible! (I shouldn't blame him for Lost, I guess; and Tommy Girl's movie is apparently not terrible, so maybe I'm being unfair.) Alcatraz is tempting, but I think I'll wait for the reviews from the series finale then rent it on dvd if it's not a hot mess.
ReplyDeleteI really like this! I am also afraid that nothing will come along and grab me like lost did from the very first second of the show. I miss Lost so much and thought the end was soo great. Alcatraz did not grab me like that, but I will stick with it.
ReplyDelete@MISCH, Sam Neill aged because he was a guard and didn't disappear. Actually that was the one thing that seemed off, he should have actually been older than he appeared. if he was a young guard in 1963, then he would be at least 70 now, it seems like they were trying to portray him being in his early 60s. Or maybe I am just way overthinking that detail. LOL
I agree that we can call the "doctor" Hurley, if we can please call the lady in a coma, Neela? I was thrown by Jorge Garcia's character not saying dude in every sentence. I'm a huge Lost fan. I actually just finished re-watching the series with my daughter last week. All my Lost friends on FB are real excited about this show. I'm still on the fence. The twist at the end that Neela is also from the past is what is going to get me to come back next week.
ReplyDeleteI just find Sam Neill to be so overly dramatic, it's like he's trying too hard. He looks and sounds like he's giving a bad impersonation of Frank Sinatra. He's truly terrible.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll add this to my queue. My sister said she really liked it & it was better than Fringe.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about getting sucked into these shows though. I remember someone asking if they could jump into LOST in the 3rd season & I was like "Umm, negative."
I haven't had TV since Thanksgiving when I moved into temporary quarters. Can't wait until I move into "new" new home and get my Dish hooked up again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell, it sure was fun hearing Jorge Garcia talk about the "island" again! Missed ya, dude! ☻
ReplyDeleteI liked it pretty well, but I don't really like Sam Neill....Never have.
I almost forgot that it was airing last night (I don't watch football, so I didn't get a million reminders), but thankfully I figured it out right in time. I liked it, but I'm already confused so I don't know if I can say I loved it.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I was also confused at the beginning of Lost, and I ended up loving that.
I try not to compare TV shows and judge them on their own merits, but I'm having trouble with that on this one. I can't stop calling them Hurley and Neela.
I gave that godawful Terra Nova at least five episodes, so I'll definitely give this at least that long.
I loved Hugo and yes, I do love Sam Neil. Both hours had me hooked, darn..I promised myself a life in my New Year's Resolution.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked it. I'm excited to see more.
ReplyDeleteLoved LOST. I was a huge fan. Followed Jorge Garcia's blog. Glad to see him back. I liked last nights show. I usually LOVE J.J.'s work, up until the end. He tends to piss me off at how his shows end.
ReplyDeleteTrébuchet, the Rimbaldi stuff was a mess. I loved that the people at Television Without Pity called his device "Clifford the Big Red Ball," and it was so funny when Clifford showed up in his Star Trek movie. My friend and I simultaneously said "It's Clifford the Big Red Ball!" way too loudly, and probably really confused the other people in the audience.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's living relatively close to the actual Alcatraz and seeing it on a weekly basis across the water (and obviously visiting it several times growing up) but any show having to do with an Alcatraz schticky-theme just sounds lame-o to me. Maybe if people have not been to Alcatraz before, there is still a mysterious allure there but try shoving past rent-a-cop security guards in order to get a pair of pre-used sweaty headphones for the tour and squishing into one of the cells with 20 other people and screaming children and the allure is somewhat gone.
ReplyDeletePass.
Oh, and I 100% agree that Alias ended shitty and with a plop instead of a bang. And that Fringe (which Im trying to get into now from the beginning) is hard to sink into.
Maybe dude is becoming too famous for his own good and the quality of work is slipping as the ego is usurping space in his head?
It just made me want to fire up my LOST DVDs.
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